Food before Fuel campaign launched

Over 20 groups comprising of processors, retail,
environmental, hunger and food industry groups have launched a "Food Before
Fuel" campaign urging US congress to revisit the nation's food-to-fuel policies.

Campaign members are encouraging policymakers to "revisit and restructure
policies that have increased our reliance on food as an energy
source".

Converting more than one-third of US corn to ethanol, with
additional subsidies and tariffs further promoting the diversion of food to
fuel, is currently mandated by Congressional policies. Reports state that these
policies have contributed to record food price inflation.

It is further
reported that the International Monetary Fund says that the US food-to-fuel
policy is responsible for more than 30% of food price inflation
globally.